Import duty charged on repair and return of goods to EU country (breach of TCA)

Recently we (a UK company) repaired and returned materials to an Ireland-based company. Despite following the correct procedures (as far as we are aware) the Ireland courier charged full import duty (a breach of the Trade and Cooperation Agreement). Attempts to resolve this via contact with the courier have not been successful. To whom, in the UK, do I raise a complaint and how? There is a website for EU countries to report breaches, but I can't find one for UK companies. Thanks

Hi Ralph Jarmain. When considering the conditions of the TCA they cannot be considered on their own. You also need to check both the UK and EU customs legislation . Both the UK and EU require that customs special procedures must be used to facilitate the use of the clause in the TCA on returns after repair. This means that for a temporary export out of the EU for goods being repaired then outward processing must be used. Information is here in the Irish Revenue guidance. P12 https://www.revenue.ie/en/tax-professionals/tdm/customs/economic- procedures/outward-processing.pdf If inward processing was not used by the Irish exporter/importer then it is unlikely that there has been any breach of the TCA. Similar requirements are in UK customs law. Goods imported for repair should use Inward processing and goods exported for repair you should use outward processing. If you are certain duty has been overpaid in Ireland then the importer would have to raise that with the Irish Revenue .

Thanks for th reply Customs oldtimer. The importer has now contacted Irish Revenue (the correct procedures and forms for temporary export and reimport were used).

Hi,

If the charges have been applied while importing into Ireland then it should be raised with their customs authority as charges have been paid to them.

If the courier has not submitted correct declaration to claim relief, it needs to be raised with the courier. It may also be appropriate to contact customs in Ireland and seek guidance on how to reclaim the charges paid if there was relief available at the time of importation.

Thank you.

Thanks again. Unfortunately, I ended up paying the charges (I was too slow to stop the courier's direct debit). Attempts to contact Ireland customs have been rebuffed (unsurprisingly) so the receiver is making another attempt to recover duties from the courier's Ireland office. It's unfortunate that UK companies seem to have no mechanism to raise complaints for breach of TCA, whereas EU companies can easily do this (for issues when any EU goods enter the UK or other countries and are incorrectly charged duties) using an online form. Regards

Hi UK sender Unfortunately the Irish customs will only accept a claim from the named importer as they are the legal customs debtor . It does not matter who actually paid the duties. The same applies here in the UK.

Hi UK sender,
Unfortunately we are unable to offer guidance on customs practices by EU trader outside UK.
Thank you.